Unforgettable
by Empress Empoleon
Summary: Dawn's a frosh, and has just started her four years at Pallet Town High School. But how was she supposed to know that her whole life was about to be turned upside down and around by friends, boys, school, love, war, craziness, parties, accidents, embarrassments, sports, superstitions, plays, and more? High school's going to be unforgettable, that's for sure!
1. First Day: Freshmen Year

**Me: So, hey, it's me again! I'm back with another longshot. And, I apologize for the awful summary, I just can't really think of anything.**

**Misty: Oh joy.**

**Me: *ignores* Anyways, this is for crixxy200016's contest. Special shout-out to her, since she's motivated me a lot! This whole story will be in Dawn's POV.**

Normal, _Dream, _Class/Period

* * *

><p><span>Homeroom, 1st Period<span>

I pushed open the heavy doors of Pallet Town High School and stepped confidently inside. My footsteps echoed down the long tile hallway. Paper airplanes sailed out of open classrooms. Teachers were running around with stacks of paper and mugs of coffee. Teenagers slammed locker doors and chatted loudly.

"Well, are you ready? This is the most important day of our lives yet," May remarked next to me. She fidgeted with her brown doggy-pigtails. "I don't know if I'm ready."

"Relax, May. You just overstress too much. Nothing's gonna happen," replied Leaf on my other side. Her school girl pigtails swayed as she shifted her position.

"Mist? What do you think?" I asked, turning around to meet the red-head behind me.

A faint whine escaped from Misty's headphones. Her head was bobbing to the music, and she hadn't even heard me.

I sighed and yanked the IPod away. The earphones fell out, and she glared at me.

"Look, I don't care. School is school is school. Now, give it back!"

I smirked, shaking my head. "Nope. I'll keep it for the day. You wouldn't want it getting confiscated by-"

As if on cue, the entire hallway went quiet. An extremely thin teacher walked down the hallway, and when I say thin, I mean thin. Her clothes must have been a size double 0, at least. She was tall too-my small frame must have made me look like a tiny Joltik to her.

Ms. Taylor, the harshest, strictest Science teacher in the entire school. Even the teachers were a little disgruntled by her.

Of course, I had only heard rumors-from about every college student in town. They all agreed-while she may favor some students, to the majority crowd-

They were toast.

When she walked into a room, the tension in the corridor slowly eased, and people went back to their activities. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

She was probably meaner than she looked.

"Was that…" Leaf trailed off, unsure.

"Yeah, it was Ms. Taylor," Misty informed.

"I don't look forward to her class." May shuddered.

"Well, who knows, we might get the ever-nice, ever-pretty, Miss Conor," Leaf replied dreamily.

Miss Conor-the role model for every teenage girl. She was everything you would want to be-smart, pretty, athletic, funny-her Science class was always the best.

Everybody could only hope that they would get into her class and not Ms. Taylor's.

Leaf glanced down at her watch. "We're wasting time. We only have a couple minutes till homeroom."

We all hurried down the hallway, our backpacks thumping on our backs. We walked into the room with about a minute to spare.

There were exactly five empty seats left. One was in the dead center, front of the room. I wouldn't sit there ever. Why would you want to be right where the teacher could see you all the time?

Well, apparently, Leaf did, because she actually sat at that seat. I loved her, but seriously, sometimes, she has no idea what messes she gets herself into.

Then there was a seat at the far left corner, up in the back at the end of the classroom. Before I could do anything, Misty called it. Figures.

May found a decent looking seat somewhere in the middle. She didn't really care all too much.

I was the one left standing. The only two seats left were another one in the middle, but away from May's, and one in the middle row, next to the wall. I chose the one next to the wall.

The teacher's desk was empty. I sat down just when the bell rang. Nobody stopped talking. Plus, the teacher hadn't come yet.

But, I felt so alone. All of my friends were like, miles away. So close, yet so far…

Well, I had to pass the time. I located all my buddies. May was doodling on her desk, bored. Leaf was reading. Misty was listening to music-wait, what? I checked my uniform pockets. No, her IPod wasn't there. How'd she get it back? I didn't wanna know.

Speaking of which, I really hated the uniform. Whoever thought it up had absolutely no fashion sense. For us girls, they made us wear a full-sleeve blouse in an atrocious light green color, with a matching skirt, white knee-high socks, and black shoes. I was boiling in it, and I was sure that in the winter, I would freeze.

The boys got it a little better. They had to wear a blazer in the same disgusting green and black pressed pants with the same shoes.

Okay, I really needed to talk to the principal about this, I thought. The blouse was itchy, and the collar was stiff. Blech.

I snapped out of my trance as soon as the teacher walked in. The door slammed, and everybody silenced. My head whipped around to see who it was.

It was a plump man, who had this goofy grin on his face. He took one step forward, and tripped over his own feet, his coffee sloshing over his un-ironed shirt and papers flying everywhere.

My year as a freshman was off to a great start, right?

"I am SO sorry that I'm late, I just-AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" A girl with tall, orange, spiky hair rushed into the room, and fell right over the overturned teacher. Everybody started laughing, and I suppressed a giggle.

"Ugh…" The girl groaned as she got up, rubbing her back sorely. She helped the teacher up, who just laughed heartily and slapped her on the back in just, her flying into the empty desk.

"Isn't this fun, class?" the teacher asked. "Don't be so serious-school is hard enough without all the sour faces. I'm Mr. Nikaidou, and I will be your homeroom teacher for this year."

...I didn't really know what to make of Mr. Nikaidou.

He started taking attendance, all the while rambling about his already married kids, and for the first time, I felt myself actually listening to what the teacher had to say. I loved high school, so far at least.

"Nozomi, Zoey?" he asked, and the girl with orange hair from before rose her hand. "I'm so sorry about before, Zoey. I'm not the most coordinated," he said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, and everybody laughed.

"Oh, it's okay, Mr. Nikaidou," Zoey replied, flashing a smile at him. "It happens all the time."

"I like your spirit, girl!" And then, he continued reading off names, and I zoned out.

* * *

><p><span>English Language Arts, 2nd Period<span>

Our Language Arts room was small and cozy, with lots of lamps turned on. The teacher, Mrs. Jenkins, a middle-aged woman with neon pink hair, started rambling about nouns, pronouns, verbs, and conjunctions as soon as we were seated. Oh, the boredom.

Leaf and May had Math right now, so I and Misty had only each other for support. I really wanted to get to know Zoey, but she was with Leaf and May in Math too.

"I want you to do page 1 and 2 in your workbook. I'll give you about five minutes to do it. Start now!" she ordered, and I started writing answer furiously into the book.

"Psst. Dawn. Dawn!" Misty whispered next to me.

"What is it?" I asked, glancing at the teacher. I didn't want to be branded as a troublemaker on the first day.

"I need a pencil," she answered, holding out a mechanical pencil with no lead in it.

Oh, Arceus, I thought. "This is the only pencil I have!" I replied frantically, unsure of what had to be done.

"Then give me a black colored pencil!" she retorted, mad. I started digging through my pencil case. Where was a colored pencil when you needed it?

"Hurry! Five minutes is almost over!" Misty said, freaking out. I found one black colored pencil and threw it to her. It missed and landed just beyond her foot's reach on the floor.

"No!" Misty started stretching her foot, trying to roll he pencil toward her. I started biting my manicured nails, a bad habit I had never gotten rid of.

Misty couldn't reach the pencil, so she started sliding lower and lower in her chair, to get closer to it. She was trying really hard not to make any noise, I could tell-she was biting her lip so hard, it turned white-ish.

When we only had half a minute left of work time, Misty's foot got really close to the pencil. She grinned, and stretched a tiny bit more. The chair squeaked, and both of us froze.

The teacher, who had been humming, stopped for a second, and my breath hitched in my throat. But, then she continued, softly singing.

I sighed, and Misty continued groping around with her foot at the black colored pencil. Then, the most mortifying thing happened.

Misty slipped. She outright fell out of the chair trying to reach the pencil, and made the biggest thump on the floor. I cringed, and immediately asked her if she was okay. She glared at me, so I decided to stay quiet.

"What just happened?" Mrs. Jenkins exclaimed, rushing to help Misty up. Everybody in the class was talking, and as soon as Misty sat back down, the teacher shut them all up.

"I'll give you one more minute." I looked down at the floor. Where was the pencil?

I glanced at Misty in the desk beside me. She was furiously scribbling down answers into the workbook with the black colored pencil.

* * *

><p><span>Gym, 3rd Period<span>

All four of us-me, Misty, May, and Leaf-had Gym right before lunch. Zoey had Gym with us too. I knew I was going to suck at it the moment I walked into the large gymnasium wearing a Pallet Town High gym uniform, which consisted of a simple shirt and shorts.

We started stretching, and me and my friends started talking like we hadn't seen each other in years.

"Hey, Berlitz and company! Shut it!" the buff Lt. Surge shouted at us. Just our luck that he was the gym teacher.

"Today, we will be playing dodge ball. I want a fair game, with good sportsmanship. Got that? No aiming at the head either. I don't need to get sued because of your personal grudges causing concussions!"

He blew a whistle, and it was complete chaos. Luckily, it was girls vs. boys this time, so us four were on the same team.

I saw Misty shredding up the competition on my right, and Leaf nimbly jumping over millions of balls on my left. And, as expected, May was already out, pouting and whining behind me.

"Dawn, wake up!" May yelled, and I narrowly dodged a ball. It whizzed right past my head, and my hair moved slightly.

I got into the game. I started chucking balls at people, and I found myself moving in a kind of weird rhythm-throw, dodge, pick up a ball, repeat ten million times.

And, soon enough, me and Misty were the only girls still playing on our side, and there were only two guys on the other side too. One guy who looked like he didn't give a crap with purple hair, and one boy with tall spiky hair resembling Zoey's, but brown, like May's.

"Take that, suckers!" Misty yelled, and a ball flew from her hands at the speed of light, hitting the brunette square on the side. He swore loudly, threw her an evil glare, and sat down, looking a lot like May again.

Misty smirked, and got hit by a ball sent from the other boy, the only one left on the other team. Her expression was so murderous, I couldn't even describe it. And, with that, it was me versus plum head jerk.

I could feel my entire gal team depending on me. They would never forgive me if I lost to the boys.

I gulped, and picked up a ball shakily. I extended my arm behind me, ready to throw it. I took a deep breath. Stress started building up inside me. I couldn't do this. It was too much.

But, then, determination surged through me, and I smiled. The ball left my hand, sailed through the large gymnasium-

And a ball hit me on the head.

"PHWEET! The boys win!"

* * *

><p><span>Lunch and Recess, 4th Period<span>

After recovering from my horrific loss at Gym, I was totally ready to kick back, relax, and converse with my three gal pals.

Or, rather, three gal pals plus one to-be-gal pal.

I had invited Zoey to sit with us at lunch. We talked, and she was really nice. Her fashion sense might have been a little off, but she knew everything about everything on hairstyles. She was a coordinator too-me and May really hit it off with her after that was brought up.

Leaf liked her, of course-she got along with pretty much everybody. I was afraid of what Misty would think, to tell the truth-but she liked Zoey too, because both of them, as she put it, "shared the pain of being a carrot-top".

I really liked Zoey. And, I had a feeling, that our quadruplet had just become a quintuplet.

* * *

><p><span>History and Geography, 5th Period<span>

This class was taught by Nurse Joy. Or, one of the Nurse Joys. She said that she was from Lilycove City.

Basically, it was just learning the geography of the Pokemon world's regions, and the history of them. Oh, joy (bad pun intended).

It was quite boring, really-and I felt myself growing drowsy, like I do in a normal class. And, soon enough, I had fallen asleep-Leaf told me later that I was practically snoring on my textbook.

But, I had a really weird dream...

* * *

><p><em>I kept sprinting down the black void, my feet traveling on nothing. My screams echoed off of the dark matter, and I was becoming very agitated. It was a space of literally nothing-no beginning and no end, just empty space all around.<em>

_But the most scary part was-there was no one there. It was just me, braving this abnormality all by myself. _

_I had never been so completely alone before._

_Strangled sobs escaped my throat, and I stopped running, breaking down. I sniffled, and the setting changed._

_I was back in the gymnasium, and we were playing another dodge ball game, in a sense. Instead of regular balls though, there were balls of words-literally words-insults, that rang cold, heartless sayings and hurt anybody who got hit by them. _

_I saw a dream me, fighting hard. I kept dodging everything-and I suddenly realized that my team's size had shrunk. It had been all of the girls in class before, but now it was just me, Misty, May, Leaf, and Zoey. _

_Suddenly, Zoey shouted in pain as her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, unable to move. I wanted to help her, but I was stuck in place._

_When I looked back at me and my still-standing dream friends, I realized that Leaf and May were gone. I glanced around, afraid, and when I found them, my heart stopped. They were on the other team now, where the majority were-jeering, snickering, smirking, and throwing swears and insults at me and Misty, the only people on our side._

_May screeched something that I couldn't make out-and Misty froze. She stopped in place, staring at May with wide cerulean eyes. And for the first time in my life, I saw a side of Misty I had never seen before-a soft, vulnerable side. Tears streamed down her face, and she ran out of the gym, crying._

_I wiped the tears from my own eyes, and in my blurry vision, I saw dream-me, still dodging all the mean words that were being thrown at me. I could see that I couldn't really keep it up anymore-I was panting heavily, my hair was frizzing up, and sweat droplets lined my forehead. _

_Then, I saw one insult, bigger than the rest. It rose above everybody else's, and rushed toward the dream me. The dream me didn't see it. I tried to say something, but my voice wouldn't work._

_Out of nowhere, as soon as the insult was going to hit __me, a guy stepped out and took the blow. He staggered back, and the dream me screamed. He disappeared, and I never got to see who he was. He was only a silhouette, but he had looked strangely familiar..._

_And, then, the dream me fell unconscious, fainting onto the gym floor. _

* * *

><p>"Dawn...Dawn...Dawn!" May bellowed in my ear, and I woke up with a start.<p>

"Are you okay?" Leaf asked, worried. "We've been trying to wake you up for a while. Our next class starts in, like, ten seconds."

I got up, shaking slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go."

I never told them about the strange nightmare I had had.

* * *

><p><span>Elective Course, 6th Period<span>

For our sixth period, we had to take an elective course that we had chosen at the end of eighth grade. We had a different elective course set for each trimester, so three elective courses in one school year. I had chosen Home Ec. for the first trimester, as did May. Leaf had chosen Computers and Photography. Misty wanted to try something new, and chose Art.

In Home Ec., the teacher was a stout lady called Mrs. Richards, and she gave us an overview of what we would be doing that trimester-sewing, interior design, taking care of kids, and a slight amount of cooking.

I was excited. I loved crafty things like this. May was also bubbling over-she really wanted to learn how to cook edible food.

I was afraid of the whole kid care part though. Was it going to be toddlers, or babies? Either one was a scary prospect. I had had my fair share of babysitting my neighbor's second grader kids, and it was horrible.

At least there weren't any boys in this class, or I would have died from embarrassment when she started going over the "child development" part. It was going to be babies.

Shoot me now, I thought.

* * *

><p><span>Science, 7th Period<span>

I clutched my binder so tightly, my knuckles turned white. I checked my scedule for the hundredth time. Yep, I indeed, had Ms. Taylor for Science. Why? Why couldn't I have the lovely Miss Conor?

It was really just me and my bad luck. Misty, May, and Leaf got Miss Conor. Even Zoey got Miss Conor. But, no, I just had to get stuck in Ms. Taylor's class, with no one that I knew.

I felt like crying as I walked into the class all alone. I sat at a random desk, not really caring. Ms. Taylor was at the front of the room, shuffling through her notes. I started biting my nails again.

There was a clatter behind me. I whirled around to see the purple-haired dude who had gotten me out at dodge ball in Gym. If I hadn't been so scared of Ms. Taylor at that moment, I really would have done something mean to him.

The bell rang. Ms. Taylor turned around, and her eyebrows furrowed as she looked at all of us, trying to locate the troublemakers and exceptional students.

"I am Ms. Taylor. I will be your science teacher for this year." Ms. Taylor wrote her name on the old-fashioned chalkboard, and the chalk screeched loudly like microphone feedback as she wrote. I felt like screaming.

"If any of you misbehave, I will not tolerate it," she continued, glaring at us. "I do not accept students who are not serious about their work."Oh, Mesprit, what had I gotten myself into?

She started pacing up and down, through the desks, taking a good look at all of us. She asked for our names, and what we hoped to learn this year.

When she got to the purple-haired boy behind me, I started freaking out. What the heck was I gonna say?

"Who are you, young man?"

"...Paul."

"Full name, please."

"...Paul Shinji."

"What do you want to learn this year, Paul Shinji?"

"..."

"I asked you something, Paul Shinji!"

"...life sciences, I guess."

Ms. Taylor nodded in approval, and moved onto me. I was totally un-ready.

"Don't bite your nails, girl, it's disgusting!" she exclaimed, unimpressed. I whipped my hands away from my mouth.

I said in a shaky voice, "My name is D-Dawn Berli-litz. I w-want to learn about..." I trailed off, unsure of what to say. Crap. I had not planned for this.

"What do you want to learn this year, Dawn Berlitz?" Ms. Taylor's voice rose. I could tell she was getting impatient with me, but I needed time to think.

"Chemistry! I want to learn lots of chemistry!" I yelled randomly. She stalked away, and I sighed in relief. I didn't care much for chemistry, to be honest, but I was so stressed at that moment that I just yelled out something random.

"Miss Dawn Berlitz has brought up a good point," Ms. Taylor addressed, and I gave her my utmost attention, though I really hated how she kept using my full name. "We will be focusing on chemistry, botany, and zoology for most of this year."

And, for the rest of class, she kept ranting about what we would learn. I got lost in all of the complicated terminology she used, and when the bell rang, I was the first one out the door.

* * *

><p><span>Math, 8th Period<span>

I hated math. I absolutely detested it. There was really no other way to describe the way I felt toward math-it was just pure hatred. I didn't give a crap to it, and it apparently didn't give a crap toward me either, because I got about half of the problems wrong in the pre-test our math teacher, Mr. Granger, gave us.

Leaf and May had had Math when me and Misty had Language Arts, so now, we had switched around. They had Language Arts, we had Math.

Misty was actually really good at Math, whether she wanted to admit it or not-she was actually a really good student all around, though she kept ranting to us about how she wants to flunk at least once. I was a straight A student too-except for Math. Stupid, stupid, math.

Go die in a hole, Math.

* * *

><p><span>Talents, 9th Period<span>

Talents-a class where we work with our Pokemon. Misty and Leaf had gone to the trainer section, and me and May walked into the coordinator section together.

I felt myself grinning, and May was too. So many people like us, coordinators, commanded their pokemon to do beautiful appeals. Contest battles raged all over the place, and pokemon cries rang through the air of the open classroom.

Another reason Talents became my favorite class of the day-it was held outside. Coordinators used the grassy field next to the lake, and trainers used the blacktop on the other side of the large lake. There was more than enough space to fit all of us and our pokemon, and it felt great to work out in the open.

When I was called up by the teacher, who was Johanna, (my mom, yeah...) I sent out my Togekiss, who emerged from a giant yellow bow, compliments of the seal. It then gently descended to the ground.

"Togekiss, you know the drill!" I yelled, and I was confident that we would do the appeal right.

"Tooooooo!" Togekiss flew into the air like a torpedo, shooting many beautiful Aura Spheres around it. They spiraled around Togekiss, ribbons of aura trailing behind all of them.

"Use Safeguard!" I shouted, and Togekiss glowed green, bringing out the dazzle in the Aura Spheres and its self. It looked exquisite, soaring everywhere like that.

"Finish up with Sky Attack!" Wrapping it up, Togekiss plummeted to the ground in a burst of white energy, the Aura Spheres exploding into sparkles. It landed next to me, chirping happily, and I patted it on the head and gave it a poffin, praising it. I glanced at my mom, and she smiled and gave me a thumbs up.

After me, it was May's turn. She sent out her Skitty, who bounced on its tail before landing on the ground. "Nyah! Nyah!"

"Use Assist!" I shook my head. May shouldn't always rely on luck like that, I thought.

"Nyah!" Millions of pink rose petals swirled around Skitty, and I knew that Assist had turned into her Venusaur's Petal Dance. It was pretty, really.

"Use Blizzard!" May commanded, and Skitty obeyed, a flurry of snow rushing into the air and freezing all of the petals in mid-air. Then, gravity took over, and all of the frozen petals dived to the ground like arrows, each one smashing into the ground and exploding into sparkles. May bowed, giggled, and scratched her Skitty behind the ear.

"Risky performance, May," my mother remarked, and May looked a little sad. "But, it was good, nonetheless." May beamed like a toddler, and I found myself smiling too.

Zoey then stood up, throwing her pokeball into the air. A Leafeon flipped through the air before making a perfect landing.

"Use Magical Leaf," Zoey ordered, and Leafeon let out a blast of glowing magical leaves. They surrounded Leafeon, and made it look even more regal and perfect. I found myself completely drawn to her performance, something I didn't feel when watching May or even my mom.

"Use Energy Ball." Leafeon shot out a gorgeous emerald sphere. "Follow up with Arial Ace." Leafeon shot up like it was a bird pokemon, and hit the Energy Ball squarely in the center. It exploded into bits of energy and green sparkles.

I could never perform that good, I realized. Zoey was in a completely different league. I started to feel that maybe, I wasn't as good of a coordinator as I thought I was.

* * *

><p><span>After School, Walking Home<span>

I asked Zoey if she would walk home with me, May, Misty, and Leaf, but she said that she had to go to the library today. However, she promised that she would come with us tomorrow, and I felt good knowing that I had made a new friend. A new friend who was an awesome coordinator.

All four of us rambled about something or the other of our first day of high school. The topic soon turned to Talents class.

"I was a little stupid for using Assist, I guess," May admitted. "But, it's my style."

"I battled against this kid with spiky hair and a Pikachu," Misty said. "His Pikachu was really tough actually. But, me and Starmie pulled through!" She pumped her fists in the air, feeling good about herself for winning.

"Dawn, you know that guy who got you out in dodge ball today in gym?" Leaf asked, and I felt my heart skip a beat for some reason. I remembered Science, and the bizarre dream I had in History/Geography. "His name is Paul, and-"

"I know that," I snapped, mad at her for making me think of the nightmare I had had. She looked at me weirdly, and I felt bad.

"Okay, then...I battled him in Talents. He's really strong, but he's ruthless with his pokemon. He's the strong, silent type, and I had the feeling that if his pokemon didn't win the battle for him, they would be in for a load of trouble. You catch my drift?" she continued,"I lost for the first time in a long time. Guess I need to do some serious training."

I looked up, where wild Pidgey flew from tree to tree, and puffy white clouds floated around the clear blue sky. I found myself lingering on Paul for some reason. What was with him?


	2. Signing Up: Paul's Problems

**Me: I'm on a creative burst of energy, I guess. Here's the second chapter! BTW, I fogot to mention last chapter-Dawn, May, Leaf, Zoey, and Misty's homeroom teacher (Mr. Nikaidou) was referenced from a pretty famous anime. Can you guess which one (hint: the anime was based after an award-winning manga, and the anime was three seasons long, subbed only.)**

* * *

><p>I bent down to tie the laces on my pink rollerblades.<p>

"Come on, Dawn, we don't have all day!" Misty bellowed at me, and I stood up, ready to go.

"Sheesh, I'm coming," I answered, making my way over to them.

All five of us started going to school. I lagged behind in my rollerblades, and May stayed next to me on her bike. Zoey and Leaf chatted in front of us, both of them biking too. Misty forged ahead of us all on her flaming skateboard.

I dodged a pebble that was lying on the leaf-strewn sidewalk. The days had flown by-it was already mid-November, and the trees lining the road were bare. A chilly wind nipped at my black windbreaker, and my navy hair flew into my face.

"Thinking much?" Zoey asked, slowing down to come next to me. May moved around her and joined Leaf.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess," I admitted. Zoey had become a really good friend ever since the second day of school when she walked home with us. Now, she was close to all of us.

"Well, we all have quiet days," Zoey said softly. "It's nice to listen to the silence sometimes, to appreciate your surroundings."

"Yeah…" I exhaled, looking all around me like a fascinated toddler. The breeze rushed by and ruffled my clothes. All five of us enjoyed the quiet and sense of peace.

* * *

><p>Misty flipped up her skateboard as she reached the high school's door. The rest of us soon followed, taking off helmets, un-strapping kneepads, and untying laces. We were about to walk inside when someone shouted out to us.<p>

"Hey! Is that you, Misty?" A boy riding a skateboard jumped off, picked up the board, and ran up to us. A Pikachu followed him, and then jumped onto his shoulder. "I didn't expect to see you!"

Ash was someone that we regularly saw during the day. He was a really nice kid, but he was as oblivious and dense as a chocolate bar. Speaking of food, his stomach had an endless capacity. Once he started eating, he couldn't stop!

Ash and I had talked some-he talked with everybody. He loved to battle too-I couldn't even count the number of times he forced me out onto the Pallet High Battlefield impromptu. But, out of all of us, Ash always went to Misty. He always talked to her. They were good friends, really, no matter how much Misty yelled at Ash for being somewhat stupid.

"Hi, Ash!" Misty said cheerfully. Her face lit up in such a brilliant way, and her aura seemed to glow like a Lanturn.

Ash bent down as he panted. Pikachu jumped off his back and into Misty's arms, cuddling with her, and Misty smiled.

"I didn't know you rode a skateboard, Misty. Why didn't you tell me that?" Ash pouted like a toddler, and Misty giggled. I had heard Misty laugh many times before, but the way she laughed then sounded absolutely amazing. I had never seen her so happy.

"You never asked," Misty replied cheekily, and Ash grinned, not breaking the eye contact.

Misty's cheeks got a light pink dusting as she kept staring into Ash's chocolate brown eyes, and I saw Ash's ears taint red. That was so sweet!

Leaf was smirking, and May was softly squealing. Zoey shut her up, looking at the two of them expectantly. Would something happen? I thought.

"Um," Ash gulped, suddenly nervous. "Y-you can come skateboarding with me sometime, if you want. I mean, I'm not forcing you-"

"Yeah, I will sometime." Misty winked slyly at him. "See ya later."

I couldn't believe what I had just seen. Had a boy just asked Misty to do something with him? Does that count as being asked out? More importantly, did she actually flirt? I was in utter shock and disbelief for a couple seconds, as all those questions ran through my head.

"Woah, making your move, huh?" Zoey remarked suggestively, and Misty swatted her away. May laughed, and Misty swatted her too.

"But, seriously, do you like him?" Leaf asked, but we already knew the answer.

Ever since the first day of school, when Ash and Misty battled for the first time in Talents, Ash and Misty had been close. They were together a lot of the time during school hours, and lately, Misty had been texting him a lot after school.

It was clear to all of us that they really liked being in each other's presence, and that they probably were more than just good friends.

"He's just too dense," Misty replied, looking down at her uniform shoes.

"Actually, I think he's seeing you a little differently too now," I burst out, and Misty looked up at me dubiously. However, May nodded, and I became confident. "He was blushing."

Misty's face turned red as a tomato as she stammered, "St-still!" I didn't know what she still had to deny.

The bell rang, and we dispersed to our classes.

* * *

><p>I trudged into the cafeteria much later into the day, exhausted by all the work our teachers were giving us.<p>

I located our usual table, where everybody was already sitting. May had saved a seat next to her for me, and I plopped down in it. Leaf was on the other side of me, and Zoey was next to her.

"Where's Misty?" I asked automatically. Leaf shrugged.

"You know, I can't find Ash anywhere either…" Kenny added, munching on a cracker. Kenny, a slightly obnoxious brunette coordinator, was a regular around us too, and he and Ash were pals. Of course, he also had another legitimate reason to sit at our table-he was Zoey's boyfriend.

Kenny had entered our homeroom in early October, and Zoey was love struck as soon as she laid her eyes on him. She didn't waste any time either-she asked him out the very next day, and he said yes. Now, they were probably one of the school's cutest couples.

"Can't find Ash or Misty, and don't know why? You guys really are dumb." Drew flipped his forest green hair, sliding into the chair next to May.

May frowned. "Shut it, grasshead."

"They're probably making out somewhere, its way too obvious to see that they both like each other." Drew took a bite into his sandwich.

"I never thought I'd actually agree with you," Leaf remarked. May huffed.

Its way too obvious to see that you like Drew, May, I thought, smirking.

Drew, another coordinator with green, flip-able hair, became another addition to our table. Ever since May and Drew battled in Talents, they had been rivals, and Drew was always hanging around, pouncing on any chance to tease May. May, in turn, argued with him to the best of her abilities, which weren't very admirable.

But, you could really see that May was developing a very small, secret crush on him-and Drew, who was starting to get very flirty and suggestive with her, had liked her from the start.

"Where's Gary?" Kenny asked.

"He needs to stay in for lunch and finish something for Mrs. Jenkins," Drew replied, multitasking as he shoved May out of her seat.

Gary-yet another arrogant, brunette heartthrob who had decided to torment us. We hadn't thought that someone could be haughtier than Drew, but we were proved wrong by Gary's larger-than-life ego. A powerful trainer, he knew how to hold his ground in battle.

Out of all of us, Leaf seemed to be his main interest, and he picked at her a lot, quite similar in the way Drew teased May. Leaf reacted in the same way as May-arguing and hitting.

And, everybody knew that we had two budding relationships on our hands.

We all started to eat our lunch, with three empty seats glaring at us. While two of them did get filled later on, one stayed empty for the whole of lunch.

Ash and Misty came in about five minutes before lunch ended, and they were bombarded with questions like, "Were you making out?", "Who got expelled?", "Where is the crime scene?", and of course, "What happened?"

Misty smirked. "You'll just have to wait and see."

However, Ash did not have as much self-control as Misty, so he burst out, "Me and Mist signed everybody up for the Thanksgiving Fair Scavenger Hunt!"

My first thought was, OMG HE CALLED HER MIST! HE HAS A NICKNAME FOR HER! HE **SO **LIKES HER!

My second thought was not as exciting though (it involved lots of inappropriate language toward Ash)

I was decent enough to keep all of my thoughts to myself, however, the majority of the people at the table weren't. May, Drew, and Kenny had all shown Ash what they thought of his grand plan, and Misty was not left unscathed by Leaf. Zoey and I just sat there, unsure of what to do.

The Thanksgiving Fair was something held by the Pallet Town High every year during Thanksgiving break. It was a couple hours long, and it involved all the regular games, food, and fun that you would see at a regular fair. However, the main draw was the Annual Scavenger Hunt, which was the fair's claim to fame. Every year, that was the most popular and fun event, and people always tried very hard for the prize, which was an ice-cream machine, and the usual year food-supply of pokemon food for the winner's pokemon. Speaking of which, pokemon were allowed to be used in the competition.

"Well, there's no turning back now," Kenny sighed, leaning back in his chair. Everybody nodded. My nails inched toward my mouth.

"Hey…who wants to tell Gary?"

* * *

><p>Unsurprisingly, Leaf got unanimously voted to tell Gary that they were going to participate in the Scavenger Hunt. We were all secretly hoping in our hearts that something might happen and force the two together, but instead, Gary came back after an abnormally long time to beat Ash up, Leaf coming up behind him, slightly red in the face.<p>

Later, when the hubbub had died down, I asked Ash the details. Everybody was hanging outside the school, and it was a nice day. So, he told us.

"You know how there's teams for the hunt? Well, I put you five girls on a team, and us five boys on a team." Ash said smartly.

We girls grinned, and bumped fists. That's when I realized something. "Wait, there are only four of you guys…"

All the boys (who were also grinning and bumping fists) stopped in their tracks, but Ash kept talking smartly. "Yeah, I knew that, so I signed up Paul to be a part of our team."

I didn't know what to think. Paul actually said okay to be a part of a team that Ash was on?

Apparently, the boys thought the same thing. "What? Are you kidding Ash? Paul's really on our team!" Gary exclaimed, and Ash nodded. He let out a whoop, and added, "There's no way we can lose now!"

However, before Leaf could contradict that statement, Ash remarked, "Well, I still have to tell him."

It was quiet for a moment. Everybody was completely stunned at what he said, including Misty, who had been only half-listening to the conversation the whole time. (She was listening to her IPod) Then, the boys broke out into chaos, while all five of us girls started snickering.

Gary roared, "What the hell Ashy-boy!" Leaf had to hold him back, and she started turning red, whether from the effort or blushing was unknown.

Drew held his head and looked like he wanted to pull out all of his gorgeous locks of green hair that he must have spent hours on each morning.

Kenny just plopped onto the ground, shell-shocked. He didn't say a word, and we thought he had died sitting down with his eyes opened and jaw touching the ground.

Of course, Ash was the one who must have really died, because after the boys were done with him, I was sure he would never look the same again. (Miraculously, he was all better the next morning)

"Someone has to still tell him," Kenny pointed out, after getting over his shock.

Drew, Gary, and Kenny all glared at Ash with as much ferocity as Misty, and poor Ash had no choice but to weakly gulp yes.

* * *

><p>Ash headed to the back of the school, where Paul was shooting hoops at the school's basketball court. Paul was the best player on the school's team, and he put in a lot of practice every day. He was quite serious about it.<p>

All of us snuck after Ash. We didn't want to miss a second of it. So, as Ash walked up from behind Paul, we all peeked around the wall, holding our breaths.

"Paul." Ash tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't move.

"Paul." Ash tapped again. He still didn't budge.

"Paul!" Ash started punching him lightly in the back. Paul twitched slightly.

Just when I thought Ash was going to go on overdrive and jump onto his back, Paul turned around. He bonked the basketball into Ash's face, and Ash fell onto the grass, knocked out. Misty gasped and we all came out from our hiding place to make sure he was okay. Paul went back to shooting hoops.

"Hey, don't you even care that you might have killed him?" Misty shouted, and Paul sighed.

"Can't I get some peace and quiet when I practice?" Paul growled, but Misty kept glaring.

"Hey dude, we didn't mean to annoy you, but we needed to ask ya something," Kenny said.

Paul turned around. "Will you get out of my face if I listen to you?"

Gary was about to make some cheeky reply there before Leaf clamped a hand over his mouth. What I saw Gary do after that caught me completely off-guard. He started licking her hand. Leaf gasped softly, and I seemed to be the only one who heard. (probably because I was next to her) He then bit her hand gently, and a short, deep sound came from Leaf's throat. Before I could vomit on the ground and say anything, Kenny continued.

"Ash did something stupid and signed us all up for the Thanksgiving Fair Scavenger Hunt. Because we needed five on the team, he signed you up with us, thinking you would come along. I feel like an idiot asking, but will you come?"

Paul was quiet for a moment. Then he simply said, "No." Kenny nearly fell over.

Drew stepped up. "Please, man, we need you. We can't back out now."

Paul sighed again and turned around to face us. "It's not my problem that you were signed up. I never asked to be a part of this. Just because Ash signed me up doesn't mean I'll just automatically go with you guys. I have a life too. I don't care that you guys might get disqualified or whatever. Isn't that what you want anyway? You never wanted to do this, right?" All the boys stared, dumbfounded.

Then I spoke up. I still can't explain why I did, but something in my gut compelled me to.

"I know you don't like us and don't want anything to do with us. But that doesn't mean that you just leave us out in the cold! The guys need you. I agree, it was a dumb thing on Ash's part, but he trusted you, and thought you would help. Would you really put someone down like that? Would you really let down your team? Just because it's not basketball doesn't mean its okay to just do what you want. What, do you do this in basketball too? Disagree with your whole team and try to make the winning shot of glory yourself?" I said. I felt like a college professor giving a lecture.

Paul stared at me, his cold onyx eyes unwavering. I kept the eye contact, feeling drawn to his porcelain face. His purple bangs flew around in the breeze and his mouth was pressed in a tight line. His mouth…I was suddenly disgusted with myself for looking at his mouth with interest, and dropped the gaze.

Paul looked away too. He glanced at the hoop, me, the hoop, the boys, and me again. Finally, he said, "Yeah, fine, I'll be there. But don't get used to it."

* * *

><p>Soon enough, the dreaded day of the Thanksgiving Annual Fair arrived. I came, dressed up in jeans and a Team 5 t-shirt. All of the participants in the scavenger hunt got a t-shirt with their team number on it. There were six teams; we girls were the fifth, the boys were the sixth.<p>

Since it was a bit early, we set around to playing some of the games. At the Potato Sack Race, Drew won, after knocking over Ash and Misty. (The only ones who could catch up with him) Sadly, May, the one who actually wanted to compete with him, fell over herself in her own well-known clumsiness.

At the Three-Legged Races, I teamed up with May and Leaf. Misty went with Zoey and Kenny. I paired up with Leaf because I wanted to ask her about what went on with her and Gary yesterday, but I didn't get the chance to during the game.

Then, it was time for what we all had been waiting for-the Scavenger Hunt.

"Come one, come all, come for the Annual Scavenger Hunt!" the MC, Vivian, called, and the crowd roared back with much enthusiasm.

"Now, now, keep your hats on; I know this is exciting, but really!" Vivian laughed, and then turned around on the stage. "This year we have six teams. A little on the lesser side, but nonetheless very thrilling!"

Vivan started presenting the teams as she did every year, and the crowd was clapping and hooting their heads off. The first team was made up of some giddy adults. The second was made up of some random kids I had never seen before. The third team was actually May's younger brother, Max, with a bunch of his other nerdy friends, and he cracked his knuckles and laughed at May's shocked face when Vivian announced his team.

The fourth team, however, changed our entire demeanor entirely.

"And, here is the top favorite, the team that has won the Hunt for three years in a row, the Anti-mon team!"

The crowd went absolutely wild as they were revealed, and I clenched my fists. Even though I was doing this for fun, I really didn't like the people on this team, and I certainly didn't like their style of playing. I could even use the word hate to describe how I felt toward them, I just really loathed them.

Amy, a girl with short silver hair and glasses, could be considered the leader. Her main purpose for living was really Paul. We all doubted whether Paul even knew she existed, but when she saw him on the boy's team, she squealed in delight and started jumping up and down.

Her team included Drew's ultimate fan girl and May's rival, Brianna; Melody, a musically talented girl who seemed to have a major crush on Ash; Giselle, an extremely pretty brunette who was a sucker for Gary; and Ursula, who was just a pink-haired, mean, spoiled brat.

"Hey, nice, we could use this to our advantage." Drew started whispering to his team mates, and I overheard. "Amy might be so much of a sucker for Paul that she could give us the win!"

I smirked. They had forgotten about us, and how we were going to kick their butts in the Hunt.

"Next, with a very good chance of winning, is the Poke-Gals Team!" We girls all bowed in unison like we practiced, and the cheering increased. We smiled at each other, and exchanged a feeling of sheer confidence.

"And last, but certainly not least, is the all-boy team, the Poke-Guys Team!" The boys waved to the crowd, and fan girl screams erupted from the crowd. Paul didn't even move, yet he still got some of the loudest hollers (a lot coming from Amy)

"And, now, that all the teams have been introduced, we're ready to start!" Vivan bellowed, and, though it seemed impossible, the crowd got louder. A nervous clenching feeling occurred in my stomach, and suddenly, my nails looked extremely appetizing.

* * *

><p>Every team assembled at the starting line. Vivan walked through and handed a list of the items we needed to find to one person in the team. She handed ours to Misty. Then she ran through the rules.<p>

"All of the items are located in the Viridian Forest here, so you will get disqualified if you go out of bounds. And remember, you all have the same list, and there is only one of each item available, so to get as many items as you can, you can battle others or use other cunning means to get the item from them! You can also get the items from other sources as long as they are inside bounds. But stay safe, or you'll get disqualified. In two hours, everybody must assemble at the finish line, and the team with the most items at that time wins!"

Misty huddled us together. "Look, there are twenty items on the list. So, each of us will have to find four."

"May, you find the lip gloss, the watch, the fountain pen, and the-" Misty squinted at the paper. "Thorn less rose." May blushed a deep scarlet red, and we all knew why.

"Zoey, you're finding the picture frame, the-" Misty stifled a giggle. "The Hanes boxers, a diary, and a fake nail." Zoey also flushed red, but started laughing, so there was less tension in the air.

"Leaf, you need to get a rubber glove, a pair of headphones, some aftershave, and a crushed up soda can. Dawn, you're in charge of the pillow, the accordion folder, the cheerleader pom pom, and the neon green bow tie. I'll find the scarf, a hat, the ninja star, and the conch shell."

Misty finished just in time, because at that moment, Vivan started the countdown from three. Everybody bent back at the line, ready to bolt into the woods when she said go.

"Three…two…one…GO!" She shot off a blank from the starter's pistol, the crowd cheered, and we were all off.

* * *

><p>I dashed into the woods, fingering my Empoleon's pokeball. How was I ever going to get out of this alive? And, how would I ever find a pillow, an accordion folder, a cheerleader pom pom, and a bow tie in the Viridian Forest? Not to mention that the bow tie was neon green.<p>

I sighed, deciding to look for the pillow first. I headed deeper into the forest, hoping that I would magically find a clean pillow propped up against a tree.


	3. The Hunt: Hour Number One

**Me: Here's the third chapter of PTHS:TC! ~Enjoy~~And don't forget to R&R plz!~~And no reviewer has tried to guess what anime Mr. Nikaidou is a reference is to~~**** How sad~~And check out my blog for more info about my stories! Link is on the top of my profile**~~

**This chapter will be in third tense**

* * *

><p>Dawn dashed through Viridian Forest, frantically searching for the items on her list. Almost twenty minutes into the hunt, and she had found nothing.<p>

As she kept sprinting, absorbed in her own worries, she didn't see the long tree root in front of her. Tripping over it, she thumped onto the ground, with a groan of pain. Feeling sore all over, she got up slowly, rubbing her back and brushing off the dirt from herself.

Her aching pains disappeared when she noticed out of the corner of her eye the cheerleading pom pom, snugly hidden away from view inside a brambly bush.

* * *

><p>Leaf was scouting from above the ground. Up in the trees, not only did she feel comfortable, but also alert.<p>

Leaf loved the woods and forests. She had played in the Viridian Forest since she was a toddler. She knew most of the place like the back of her hand. And climbing trees was second nature for her.

Of course, she realized after a couple minutes, that this would have been an extremely advantageous strategy had all her items been big enough to see from above the ground.

* * *

><p>Misty was sitting down on the hard ground in an out of the way spot with a rectangular piece of paper. Glancing on either side of her, she set to work.<p>

Misty began to fold the paper into intricate designs very carefully and precisely. By the time she was done, the black piece of paper had been transformed into a six-spiked origami ninja star.

Misty smirked, standing up. "Ninja star-check."

* * *

><p>Zoey was slowly walking through, taking her time to see all her surroundings and search for her tricky items.<p>

Though she was moving much slower than her competitors, it had proved to be a fine way of doing things. Not only was she able to avoid getting lost, (one of Max's team mates had run around the same area five times) she was also able to avoid missing anything.

She had already picked up the picture frame. (It was inside a hole in a tree that the same team mate had gone past five times.) And, as she happened to have worn fake nails today, she already had two items.

(Rules said that you can also get the items from other sources as long as they are inside bounds. As she and her hands were inside bounds, it counted.)

* * *

><p>May was sitting down at the foot of a tree, leaning her head against it and looking at the sky. She had released her Beautifly from its pokeball, and now, it was resting on her head, softly chirping.<p>

May sighed. "Oh, this hunt is almost impossible. There's no way I can do this." Sighing again, May put her head down into her hands, defeated.

Beautifly looked at her trainer with big, sad eyes. Then, without a noise, she lifted off into the sky.

* * *

><p>Paul strolled along on the only path through the forest. His hands were in his pockets. Sighing, he paused at a tree and looked up at the sky.<p>

"Why am I even doing this again?" he thought aloud, staring at a way too cheerful pidgey resting on some high tree branches. For some strange reasons, he felt like annihilating it.

The girl with navy hair and sparkling sapphire blue eyes rushed through his minds as an answer to his question. He smirked.

"Oh, she's going down…"

* * *

><p>Gary whistled as he strode through the tall grass, sloppily looking for anything out of the ordinary. Hearing something that sounded like someone jumping, he quietly moved to a tree nearby.<p>

Leaf jumped down stealthily from limb to limb. Almost at the ground, she paused to catch her breath.

She hopped down again. But, then she saw someone that completely messed her up.

Gary.

Gary was there at the foot of the tree. He looked like he was waiting for someone.

Squeaking slightly, Leaf started to fall though the air. Luckily, she grabbed onto a thick, sturdy branch just in time.

Unfortunately for her, Gary heard all the noise she was making. Looking up, he saw that he was directly under her.

Giving a soft wolf whistle, he said, "It's a nice view, Green."

Leaf looked mortified. She jumped to the ground, pulled down her skirt, and stormed over to him.

Planting a finger on his chest and going close in on his face, she whispered angrily, "You. Did. Not. See. That."

Gary smirked. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me." Then, he leaned in and kissed her lightly. Leaf broke away early and turned away, and Gary pouted disappointedly.

"Oh, come on, Leaf, don't be like that. We've done this before, and you were okay with it."

"I shouldn't even be dating you. I don't know what I was thinking."

"Well, you know you like it."

"Maybe I do, but I don't want to get swept away like every other girl. I'm just waiting for you to cheat on me so I can get out of this situation," Leaf retorted. She then ran into the woods, her skirt fluttering behind her.

Gary sighed, running his hand through his hair. When would she figure out that he was actually serious about her?

* * *

><p>Leaf kept running through the woods, biting her lip angrily.<p>

What was she doing? She was a sensible girl, and she knew not to get involved with people like Gary. So why had she?

Because she really liked him. He was seriously the hottest guy she had ever seen, hands down. And in the end, she was just like all his other fangirls.

That was one of the reasons she hadn't told her friends that they were dating, after all. Their opinion of her has a smart girl would change completely after they knew that she actually hooked up with Gary.

She stopped, and put a hand on a tree to support herself. He's probably already seen through my front, she thought sadly.

Well, at least I'll have a few kisses and moments to treasure, before he cheats on me, Leaf thought. Because, she knew, in the back of her mind, that eventually, Gary would cheat on her, just like he did with every other girl.

* * *

><p>Ash wasn't doing so well.<p>

Ash had decided to focus intently on finding one object before even thinking of any other item. The concentration build up was great, but since he hadn't found anything yet, it was just boring.

As he walked along, he glanced off to the side. A small brook was gurgling by.

Trooping over to the water, he bent down and scooped some pristine, ice-cold liquid out. Splashing it on his face, he felt fresh and rejuvenated.

Scooping out some more water, he picked up something big and heavy in his hands. Looking down at his hands, he saw a fairly small white conch shell.

Ash grinned and lifted it out of the water. Sticking it into his jean's back pocket, he strode away.

* * *

><p>Kenny made sure that he was well hidden in the shrubbery. Then, he ducked down to make sure he was completely hidden. Rustling around in the brambles, he unbuttoned his pants and slid them down slightly.<p>

"Darn it, I'm wearing Fruit of the Loom!"

(He was trying to see if he had worn a pair of Hanes boxers, one of the items on the list.)

* * *

><p>Drew, after walking around aimlessly for a while, stopped and leant against a tall tree. Throwing a pokeball into the air, his masquerain popped out, fluttering around in the air around him before roosting on his head. Smiling, Drew addressed it.<p>

"Masquerain, can you fly around the forest for me? Just look around for a pen. If you see one, bring it back to me." In an instant, Masquerain was gone.

Drew smirked. He had this game in the bag. Masquerain could just find everything for him, as that was within the rules. And, getting a thorn less rose was easy. His Roserade made the most beautiful ones in town.

A thorn less rose. His smirk faltered slightly as a brunette girl with naïve ocean blue eyes flashed through his mind.

Her immaturity was one of the things he loved about her. But, how dense could she get before he moved on?

* * *

><p>Dawn continued to run around aimlessly, hoping for more items to chance her path.<p>

"Yes! This is too easy!"

Dawn screeched to a halt, seeing Amy on the other side of the tree she was behind.

"Everybody knows that I always carry an accordion folder full of juicy info on Paul," Amy continued. "Wow, it's been a long time since I updated this. This picture of Paul is from a week ago!"

Dawn rolled her eyes before jumping out into the open. "Hand over the folder, Amy, and we won't have to battle."

Amy adjusted her glasses, chuckled, and stood up, clutching the item Dawn wanted ever so tightly. "No way, Paul fan girl wannabe. I mean, seriously, look at your make up. It's totally not helping you ugly face!" Amy observed. "Well, actually, I doubt anything can. And then there's your waist. Arceus, you're freaking FAT. And your curves are so undefined…"

I felt like punching her in the face. I was very good at my makeup, thank you, and I was the slimmest of my friends, who were already thin and athletic enough; she was the one who was "freaking fat".

Then she criticizes my curves. At least I HAVE some. She was completely flat, and didn't even have a developed hourglass shape.

And, who said I was a Paul fan girl wannabe? She's probably the only one in existence. It's not like Paul's anything special, he's just a jerk.

I growled, "I didn't mean a catfight, genius. I meant a pokemon battle."

Amy's smirk grew wider. "That's even easier."

I threw my Quilava's pokeball into the air.

"Prove it."

* * *

><p>Leaf took a deep breath, clearing her mind. Opening her eyes, she was determined.<p>

"I can do this!" she cheered inside her head.

Leaf had perched herself on another new tree, far away from the one where she had her fateful encounter with Gary. As she was climbing up, she had noticed a yellow blur fluttering in the breeze far up inside the tree.

On closer inspection, she saw that it was actually a rubber glove, one of the items on her list to find. It almost seemed too good to be true.

It was.

The rubber glove was stuck onto the end of the highest branch of the tree.

Leaf actually possessed no flying pokemon. She had never caught one, due to her fear of bird pokemon when she was a child. Even though she was over that fear, she was still slightly uncomfortable with owning one.

Don't think she hadn't tried her best though. However, her Ditto could only transform into a measly pidgey, which were the only flying pokemon around. A pidgey couldn't reach a branch that high with its weak flying skills.

So she had to climb all the way up to it and get it herself. This was easily the highest thing she had ever climbing, making her comfort in trees evaporate instantly.

Leaf stretched out a trembling hand. "Come on, get a hold of yourself," Leaf murmured to herself.

Placing her hand in front of her, she started crawling along the branch, carefully and slowly.

Coming out of the trees leafy coat, she felt exposed and paused. A harsh breeze flew by and chilled her to the bone.

She continued along the branch, trying not to look down. One glance and she was a goner.

Almost there, Leaf consoled herself. Almost there.

And she really was almost there. But, however long of a branch it was, it was not a strong one, and to a certain extent, it could not handle the weight of a teenage girl.

It only took a second, unlike in all the books and movies Leaf had read and watched where everything seemed to happen in slow motion.

One second, she was there.

Next second, she's free falling through the air, screaming and waiting to die.

* * *

><p>Misty smirked from her hiding spot in the bushes. She was destroying her competition.<p>

A couple from the giddy team of adults were resting by the lake, their feet inside the water. Splashing each other and laughing, their guard was left down and their focus had left them.

Misty had made up her mind. Normally, she would never do this to an adult, even if it cost her a win, but if they didn't even seem to care about the competition, then why should she care for them?

Misty was a blur. Racing out from the bushes soundlessly, she sprinted faster than she ever had before.

"Did you feel a breeze, honey?" the woman asked, gripping her husband's shoulder.

The husband cuddled closer. "Well, we could be in the Arctic for all I care. You're just so hot." The woman giggled, and snuggled closer.

Misty was in the bushes on the other side now, clutching the Pokemon League hat that used to be on the man's head, and a thin, colorful scarf that used to be tied around the woman's neck.

"Hat, scarf-check."

* * *

><p>Zoey kept wandering along through the forest at her own pace. She was satisfied with how she was doing so far, and wanted to keep it up. Currently, she was looking for the diary.<p>

Glancing off to the side, she saw something interesting. A row of saplings were growing naturally, and they were organized by height.

Zoey squatted down to look at them closer. "Wow, that's so cute!" Her eyes travelled along the different sprouts.

First, there was a tall one, about to her bust when standing up. Next to it, one that went to her waist. Then, one that went to mid-thigh. Then, one that went to her knees. Then, a book. Finally a really short one, only to her ankles.

Zoey suddenly tensed up. Her eyes moved back along the line. Sure enough, between the saplings that were knee height and ankle height, there was a book with a dark brown leather skin, labeled "DIARY".

Zoey shook her head as she picked it up. That was both a cute and smart way of hiding it. She almost missed it, after all.

Flipping through the pages, she thought it was empty. Suddenly, she noticed one page with writing on it.

_There are Hanes boxers hidden inside the tree that's two hundred paces to the left from where you're standing._

_Believe it if you want._

_From,_

_Wilma_

Zoey chuckled. Everybody knew Wilma. Wilma was the cutest third grader in town, and her parents were heavily involved in the scavenger hunt and such. Only she would do something like this.

As Zoey started moving to the left, carefully counting the number of paces she was taking, she silently thanked Wilma. The boxers were her fourth item. After she got those, she just had to find the others.

She started to run.

* * *

><p>Beatuifly flapped her wings uselessly. What was she thinking?<p>

Seeing May so sad and helpless like that had made Beautifly want to help her as much as she could, with every fiber of her being. But, she probably should have found out what she had to look for before recklessly shooting for the sky.

Beautifly started making her way back to May. But, just like her trainer, her sense of direction was very unremarkable. Soon enough, she was farther from May than when she started.

Beautifly weakly cried as the wind carried her around. Her eyes scanned pointlessly around, finally landing on another flying pokemon.

A Masquerain.

Beautifly's breathing quickened. She could recognize that Masquerain anywhere.

It was Drew's.

It is known that pokemon tend to develop feelings for a pokemon on the team of their trainer's love interest. That's why, usually, couple's pokemon also make couples themselves.

Drew was really the first boy that May had ever taken such an interest in. It was just natural for Beautifly to follow. As May tended to use Beautifly a lot for her Talents class as well, it had a lot of exposure to Drew's Masquerain, whom also seemed to be Drew's favorite for Talents Class.

Beautifly couldn't deny it anymore-she liked Masquerain. In the "I can see us at the Daycare" way.

(Beautifly liked Drew's Butterfree in the "I totally want to fly away with you way", if anyone was wondering.)

As Beautifly zeroed in on Masquerain, she noticed something in its mouth. It looked like a wet pen to her. Deeming it important, she started to fly toward Masquerain.

* * *

><p>"Darn," Paul thought as he struggled through the thick vegetation. "What was I thinking?"<p>

Paul, wanting a change of pace (since he had found nothing at all yet) head straight into an area of lots of close trees. Now, he had no way to go except forward, and he could barely see his hand in front of his face.

Suddenly, he stumbled into a clearing. After staggering a couple steps and brushing off all the leaves, he noticed something huge.

"Jackpot," Paul mumbled, smirking. Was his luck insanely good today or what? In front of him was a heap of about eight or nine hunt items. He could already count off a couple-a container of lip gloss, a watch, a neon green bow tie…

Taking a step forward, he thought that it was too good to be true.

It was.

Taking one more step forward, a trip wire invisible to him before gleamed. Before he could stop himself, he fell over it and into a muddy pond. Spitting up water and coughing, he slowly got up.

"What the fudge?" he angrily thought aloud. "The little grunt who did this is gonna get pulverized!"

He saw a small boy with forest green hair and glasses coming his way.

* * *

><p>Leaf shrieked as though the world was ending as she hurtled through the air.<p>

What she expected was for her to get a brain injury.

What she did not expect, however, was her crush and temporary boyfriend to catch her.

"LEAF!" Gary burst out from the nearby bushes. He had trampled nearly a mile in under a minute because he thought he heard her screaming.

He was just in the nick of time.

"Leaf!" Gary sprinted like a hero toward Leaf, with power and purpose in his stride. Coming under her, he held his arms out. Leaf plopped into them a split second later.

Gary gazed down at her and into her terrified emerald eyes. Leaf became mesmerized by the way his bangs fell over his face, and how the light caught his good features perfectly.

He was holding her bridal style. Leaf clutched his shirt tightly. Shaking, she began to sob, hiding her face inside his chest.

Gary smiled slightly. Caressing her hair, he slowly lowered his head and kissed her forehead.

This time, she didn't protest.

* * *

><p>Ash was now inspecting his newly-acquired conch shell. Now that he had one item, he had lost his intense focus and became distracted.<p>

Finally, he did something he had wanted to do since he was little.

He blew into it.

A loud, resounding, thundering wave of sound was produced, rippling across the whole forest.

* * *

><p>After, Kenny recovered from his boxer disappointment, he continued to patrol the area with no results.<p>

That was, until, he stumbled upon some of those giddy adults having a party of sorts.

There were four of them, two girls and two boys. One of the boys was spraying some white, foamy substance into the air, and the others were all dancing around and cheering.

After a second he realized what it was.

In a flash, a large, formidable pokemon was standing beside him.

"Alakazam, go."

Oddly, the bottle of aftershave started to have a blue glow. It gently floated away from the adult's hands (who hardly even noticed) and into Kenny's outstretched palm.

Kenny sighed happily and tramped away, his Alakazam following.

"At least I got something!"

* * *

><p>Masquerain and Beautifly were perched on a tree together. Both of them looked slightly awkward together.<p>

Masquerain initiated a conversation. After several chirps from both of them, they stared at each other intently.

Or, rather, as lovingly as a Bug pokemon could.

Slowly, Beautifly extended her proboscis, usually used to suck nectar, toward Masquerain. Masquerain opened its mouth and moved closer. The fountain pen fell out of his mouth and smashed on the ground.

Beautifly might have had the hots for Butterfree before, but no one was on her mind except Masquerain as they kissed on the branch (or, rather, kissed as much as two Bug pokemon could."

Drew burst into the clearing with the said tree in it, panting heavily. May burst out a second later, gasping.

Looking up, both of their jaws dropped.

* * *

><p>"Can you believe it, folks? An action packed hour has already passed!" Vivian roused the crowd, and they bustled excitedly.<p>

"Reporters and scouts from the hot air balloons have reported who's got what. I can tell it's going to be a close competition till the very end!

What will happen in the next and final hour? And, the million dollar question-who will win!"

* * *

><p><strong>Final Count:<strong>

Girls-Seven out of twenty eight items-cheerleader pom pom, ninja star, picture frame, fake nail, hat, scarf, diary

Boys-Three items-conch shell, thorn less rose, aftershave bottle

Amy's Team-only one known item-accordion folder

Max's Team-Giant pile of loot?

Team of Adults-nothing

Other team of unknown kids-nothing

Destroyed-fountain pen


	4. The Hunt: Hour Number Two

**Me: Thanks for all the reviews, favs, and alerts guys! As school's started back up for me, my update times will be slowed down even more, (if that's even possible) but I'm trying my hardest for you guys! Plus, I like this story. xD**

**~This chapter will be in third tense~**

* * *

><p>Dawn's Quilava was pushed back, but it ground its paws into the dirt to stop itself. It growled threateningly, and its back burst into flames.<p>

Amy smirked, adjusting her glasses and laughing. Her Golduck, who seemed to share the same attitude, flashed a mean smile at Quilava.

"Let's have another one, Golduck dear," Amy chided, and Golduck sped right at Quilava in a fast Aqua Jet.

"Quilava, dodge it!" Dawn cried, and at the last second, Quilava jumped to the side. Golduck came out of its jet, annoyed.

Dawn gritted her teeth from chomping on her nails. Though she hated to admit it, Amy was a tough opponent. Especially since she had the type advantage over Quilava. So far, all Dawn'd been able to do was dodge.

"How long are you going to keep this up?" Amy asked. "You know that I'm the one who's gonna win!"

"It's not over 'till it's over!" Dawn retorted. "Quilava, use SmokeScreen!" In an instant, the space was filled with a thick smoke.

"Oh no, my clothes! They're going to be all wrinkly and smoky!" Amy wailed. Meanwhile, her Golduck was left in the smoke, confused.

"Quilava, use Swift!" The unsuspecting Golduck was hit with numerous stars. By the time the smoke cleared, Golduck had numerous scratches on its body, and was struggling to stand up.

Amy growled, "Oh, please. Like that would do anything to my Golduck. Use Hydro Pump!" Golduck jumped into the air and shot a bucket load of water out.

Dawn screamed, "Quilava, Eruption!" Quilava, at just the right moment, jumped up and avoided the thundering jet of water, aiming an equally powerful burst of fire. The two elements met and pushed at each other, each one trying to overpower the other, and coming out unsuccessful.

"Quilava, don't give up!" Dawn cried, pushing her Quilava to the limit as it struggled to maintain its Eruption against the slightly more powerful Hydro Pump.

"Golduck, you can't lose to a brat like her!" Amy shouted, and her Golduck tried to put more power into its Hydro Pump.

"No!" Dawn screamed, seeing her Quilava get pushed back. Quilava then poured everything it had left into its Eruption. It pushed back the Hydro Pump until it exploded into wisps of steam.

Amy screeched disbelievingly as her Golduck staggered, the Eruption hitting it full-on. It finally fell to the ground with a hollow thud.

Dawn panted, wiping her sweaty brow and giving a small smile. "Quilava, you were just fantastic."

Her Quilava nodded happily, and without a word, Dawn returned it to its Pokeball.

Amy, suddenly forgetting all about her clothes, fell to the ground on her knees, shell shocked.

"How...how did you win? My Golduck was stronger, faster, bigger...and it had the type advantage...how?"

Dawn walked up to her, with a touch of sass just to rub it in. "Well, I don't know if you've caught on yet, but just because you have the advantage doesn't mean that it's guaranteed you'll win."

Dawn paused for a moment, before smirking widely. Cocking her hip and placing a hand on her waist, she proclaimed, "And for the record, that color makes you look fat."

Amy gasped, then pouted, her face flushing a bright red. She then began to stutter, trying to redeem herself.

"W-well, I'll h-have y-you kn-know-"

"Put a sock in it," Dawn interjected, putting a hand up to Amy's face. "Save it for someone who cares."

And with that, Dawn snatched up the accordion folder lying on the ground, brushed herself off, and trotted away, leaving a very confused Amy behind in the dust.

* * *

><p>Gary sat beneath the gigantic tree, his back leaning against the sturdy trunk. Leaf sat between his legs, leaning her head back on his chest. A comfortable silence lingered between the two of them.<p>

A breeze rushed by, and Gary's loose Team 6 shirt fluttered around. Leaf sighed, her brown hair whipping into her face. Gary responded by brushing her bangs out of her eyes gently, and then bending down toward her lips.

They could figure out the rest later.

* * *

><p>Misty halted, her eyes lighting up. What she had just heard was a true sound of victory.<p>

There was no mistaking it-someone had blown into a conch shell. The conch shell that she needed.

This meant war.

* * *

><p>Zoey finally reached the tree two hundred paces to her left. Eagerly, she dashed toward it...<p>

Only to get caught in a trap. Before she knew herself what was happening, Zoey had been flipped into the air by many intricately placed wires. Soon enough, she was suspended in the air upside-down inside a net.

Gasping from the shock, Zoey put a hand on her heart. After catching her breath, she struggled, trying to break through.

No such luck though. In the end, she just pouted, sliding down a little inside the uncomfortable wired net.

She couldn't break through. She couldn't reach her Pokeballs. She didn't know what to do anymore.

Zoey sighed, realizing she had no other choice except to call for help.

"SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, PLEASE, HELP ME! **HELP!**"

* * *

><p>May was determinedly hating Drew with every fiber of her being.<p>

After sitting around for a while, she decided that Beautifly wasn't coming back and that she shouldn't waste time. However, none other than Drew should come bursting through the nearby bushes, thinking that she had caught his Masquerain.

Then, of course, he walks away in the middle, and May has no choice but to follow him.

* * *

><p><em>"Just where do you think you're going?" May sprang up behind him.<em>

_Drew sighed. "You know what? Just scram."_

_"Nuh-uh." May crossed her arms, and Drew thought she looked hot for a second before shaking that thought out of his head. "I'm not low enough to steal other people's pokemon, but you are. Where's Beautifly?"_

_Drew glared at her. "You seriously think I'm that stupid? Anyways, stealing your pokemon wouldn't even benefit me. It's not like you posed much of a threat from the beginning."_

_May's face flushed red. "Oh. No. You Didn't."_

_Drew smirked and stepped back as May ran toward him him, snarling._

_"I dodged a bullet there," he thought smugly as he watched May's face contort angrily as she missed him by inches._

_May lunged again with a renewed energy. But, suddenly, she was falling, falling..._

_May gasped as sheer pain shot up through her legs. Her face was coming closer to the ground, she knew it was going to hurt. Time seemed to stop, her breathing was ragged, her palms sweaty and unable to break the fall..._

_And suddenly it was roses. Everything was muffled, except for an overpowering smell of roses that just made her go weak in the knees._

_Lifting her head, she saw that Drew had caught her. Her face had been smushed into his chest, (which was quite muscular, she noted) and glancing back over her shoulder, she saw that she had tripped over a tree root._

_All of a sudden, the blood rose to her face. Drew was holding her in his arms. She had fallen into him. How embarrassing!_

_May pushed him off of her and began to brush herself off, when the pain in her leg started to throb. Hurt seemed to pulsate through her entire being as the world went blurry, her name being called over and over became faint, and her eyes began to droop..._

* * *

><p>When May had awoken, she blushed to see that she was lying down with her head resting on Drew's chest.<p>

She tried to get up, but it hurt too much. Slumping down in defeat, (and into Drew) she grumbled.

Drew sighed. "Only a klutzy idiot like you would do that. Real smooth, June."

May was suddenly extremely pissed. "You know what Drew? You are just a grassy _ass_."

Drew held up his palms. "Woah girl, language. And, are you PMS'ing or something?"

May literally screamed in exasperation.

* * *

><p>And somehow, with a combination of her leaning on him for support and him dragging her, they managed to make it into the clearing, something they now regretted.<p>

('Cause, you know, it's pretty awkward to stumble in on your pokemon making out. Especially if they're both butterflies.)

"What the-" And May had to cover Drew's mouth in fear of hearing what she thought he was about to say.

"Beautifly?" And May stepped forward, asking incredulously as if she didn't believe what was happening right in front of her, that her pokemon was not just making out with her enemy's (nd maybe crush's) Pokemon.

Beautifly squeaked and flapped her wings furiously, almost as if she was jumping away from Masquerain. She looked at May with her huge buggy eyes, as if trying to say, _"This isn't what it looks like."_

Sure, Beuatifly's original intentions had been harmless-all she wanted was to snag the fountain pen. But now it was smashed on the ground below, as she had fallen prey for the beautiful thing known as love.

Drew ran his fingers through his hair, making a weird sound between incredulity and exasperation. "Masquerain..." Masquerain whimpered before travelling over to its trainer, slowly resting on Drew's shoulder.

May sighed and looked up at Beautifly with a sad, accusing look. Beautifly felt horrible.

Who knew forbidden love would lead to this?

* * *

><p>"...Max?"<p>

"That's who you're talking to." And, right in front of a tripped up Paul was the green haired little brat.

It looked like Max expected Paul to beg to be let out. However, Paul thought smugly-_he's underestimated me._

_I won't be let back by a stupid trap like this._

"What are you smirking about? You're the one who's trapped," Max pointed out, basking in his accomplishment.

"Oh, wow, I'm so scared, a three year old's got me tied up," Paul retorted sarcastically, fingering his pokeball. Oh, if only Max knew what was coming.

"I'm twelve, for your information!" Max stomped his foot angrily. "It's not my fault I'm abnormally short-"

In a flash, Paul's Drapion appeared. The net was immediately torn into shreds, and Paul stood up, glaring at Max.

"Who's the one laughing now, huh?"

Max laughed nervously before clearing his throat. "If it's a battle you want, I can give you one. I'll easily win anyway."

Paul raised an eyebrow. "Oh really? You think you can win against me?"

Max nodded, before wordlessly throwing out a pokeball. It was a fully-grown Sceptile, that would probably look very threatening to most people.

But Paul was not most people. And he knew that.

"May the best trainer win."

* * *

><p>Leaf's eyes fluttered open slowly. The first thing she saw was the bright sky, the leafy branches...<p>

The first thing she smelled was Gary.

All the events of the hunt suddenly ran through her mind, dropping on her like an anvil. Looking back on it, she realized that she had wasted almost all of her time and that she had found nothing.

But at that point, she didn't really care too much anymore. She was just too caught up in the moment to act rational anymore. It was like she was high or something.

High on Gary.

* * *

><p>Ash grinned happily as he trotted through the forest. He had found an item, he had blown into a conch shell, and he had eaten these really yummy Cherri Berries (or, at least that's what he <em>thought <em>they were.). What was not to like?

Well, everything was about to change. THe bushes nearby rustled, and all of a sudden, Misty popped out, twigs sticking out of her messed up hair.

"M-Misty..." Ash drifted. He wasn't expecting her. He had no idea what to say.

"I heard the conch shell. Do you know who has it?" she asked, looking around as if she was a dog sniffing someone out.

"Yeah, I found it!" Ash exclaimed, holding it out toward her. "Aren't you proud..."

Ash was suddenly scared of the dangerous glint in her eye. He then realized that he probably shouldn't have mentioned that he had the conch shell.

"Crap...I shouldn't have said that, huh?"

"No, you shouldn't have."

And then she was lunging at him and snarling like a wild animal, and he was screaming like a little girl, hugging the shell close to his chest protectively.

"Give it, Ash!"

"Never!"

Misty jumped on him, pushing him to the ground and landing on top of him.

Ash's head spun. _Misty...Misty's so pretty...what?_

Misty was blushing like a madwoman. Ash felt his face heating up like a volcano about to burst.

_What's happening to me?_

Ash didn't know anymore. Now he was acting of his own record-setting the shell down, brushing Misty's orange bangs out of her cerulean eyes.

Misty sputtered like a Magicarp, but Ash now had this weird urge to..._kiss her._

Usually Ash is one to rush in and do things without thinking. However, just the thought of leaning up and touching her soft, kissable lips with his own-

And that's when Ash experienced a feeling he had rarely ever felt before.

Hesitation. _Fear._

He didn't know what he was scared of, but he was going to find out.

* * *

><p>"SOMEBODY, ANYBODY, PLEASE, HELP ME! <strong>HELP!<strong>"

Kenny heard this cry for help, and for some odd reason, it sounded like Zoey to him.

_Well, only one way to find out._ He started trekking through the shrubbery toward the source of the sound.

* * *

><p>It had been a heavy, awkward silence as May and Drew walked back, Beautifly and Masquerain both back in their Pokeballs because of their mutiny.<p>

"Just what was going on back there?" May finally forced herself to ask, not able to stand the quiet for any longer.

Drew sighed. "It looked to me like Beautifly and Masquerain were getting it on."

May blushed at his choice of words. "Drew! They're our Pokemon."

"So? Pokemon can't have desires either?"

Another silence. Then May spoke again, without thinking. "Don't Pokemon usually have similar romantic interests as their trainers? Like, they fall for their crush's Pokemon?"

May felt like slapping herself as soon as she saw Drew raise his eyebrow at her curiously.

_What did I just say? Great, I basically admitted that I liked Drew-what was I thinking?_

"Yeah..." Drew trailed off. "Are you implying something?"

"**NO!**" May blurted, furiously trying to deny anything as much as she could.

Something flashed over Drew's face-was it disappointment? May couldn't tell. "It's totally understandable if even you fell for my amazing charm, you know."

And in an instant, he was back to his jerk mode. May sighed inwardly as she thought of a comeback.

_I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't denied my crush on him. Would he have rejected me? Or, does he-maybe-like me back?_

* * *

><p>Dawn happily tromped through the forest after her battle with Amy.<p>

She had won. She felt like she was on top of the world.

And, in her state of excitement, she bumped into a tree, stumbling around into a clearing where she found the weirdest thing ever.

Paul. Battling Max, May's little brother.

_...What?_

"Cross Poison." Poison in the shape of an X rushed at Sceptile who narrowly dodged it before firing off a Bullet Seed. Drapion met it in the middle with a Pin Missile, and after a couple seconds of struggle in between, the Bullet Seed was overpowered and Sceptile got hit with many devastating Pin Missiles.

"Wow, he's actually holding his own against Paul," Dawn mumbled.

But, just like that, Sceptile couldn't take anymore, and fell down in a dead faint, defeated. _They must have been battling for a while before,_ Dawn decided.

"Sceptile, you were great," Max dejectedly said, returning his beloved pokemon. He then looked Paul straight in the eye.

"I'm true to my word. You can keep the pile, since you're better than me." Max paused for a second. "But I'll win against you one day! Just you wait!" And he was gone, running into the trees.

Paul scoffed. "Yeah, right." He kicked the pile slightly, picking up one of the items. A pillow.

Dawn's expression hardened. She needed that pillow.

It was her chance; Paul hadn't even noticed her yet. Pushing off her feet, she lunged for him.

* * *

><p>Gary slammed her into the tree trunk, hands running all over her and tongue whipping furiously.<p>

Leaf was thrilled, and had no more control of herself. Her hands were in his hair, her tongue wrestling with his. Gary's arms were around her waist, pinning her to the tree.

Lost in lust, Gary continued to make out with her, eventually sucking on her neck and even having a little under-the-shirt action. (Leaf just literally lost herself then.)

It didn't have any actual meaning-just teenagers releasing some bothersome hormones-but to Leaf, it was something passionate and romantic and beautiful.

_Screw the hunt,_ she decided-she was all for Gary now.

* * *

><p>Ash got off of Misty, pulling her up as well. Both were blushing like mad and refusing to acknowledge what had just happened.<p>

They began to walk together, eventually falling into an easy conversation. However, Misty's thoughts never left the conch shell Ash so carelessly held in his hand.

She needed that. But how would she get it?

Then her genius plan came to her.

"Ash..." And natural girl instincts took over-she trailed a finger under Ash's chin, giggling girlishly and fluttering her eyelashes and shimmying her hips a little.

Seduction. It _never_ fails.

Unless, of course, you're Ash.

"...What the hell are you doing, Mist?"

Misty stopped in her tracks, mentally face palming. What had she been thinking? Like something that advanced would ever work on Ash.

So then she just went for Plan B-grab the shell and run.

"Hey, give it back! No fair!"

"Life isn't fair, sucker!"

* * *

><p>"A good catch." A boy came out from behind a nearby tree. She remembered that he was one of the boys on the other team-about her age, she presumed.<p>

He lazily undid the trap. Without warning, she fell to the ground, splat on her face, the picture frame and diary falling to the side. The boy snatched them.

"Give them back," Zoey growled, getting to her feet. But the boy, with no hesitation, pushed her into the tree.

"While you're here, I might as well have some fun. I don't have pretty girls over often." He was up close-too close-and trailing his finger down her chest.

Zoey was panting and trembling. Now this was scary. Sure, though she would hate it, she wouldn't really be too affected if he took off with her items. But taking her virginity in a forest? Not so cool.

Plus, she had a boyfriend-who was sadly nowhere to be seen as of now. _Kenny, where are you when I need you most?_

The boy slowly leaned in, his hot breath puffing onto her face. She clenched her eyes shut and squirmed-to have him place an iron grip on her shoulder.

Now Zoey was just pursing her lips and leaning away as much as she could in a futile attempt to keep herself pure and true.

At that exact moment, Kenny burst through the bushes, stumbling in on the scene.

"...What the hell do you think you're doing with my girlfriend?" Zoey peeked an eye open relief flooded her. Kenny was here. He would save her.

"Kenny, he-" But she didn't even have to say anything, because the normally scrawny, weak Kenny rushed over in adrenaline and shoved the boy to the side. The boy fell on the ground, looking pretty hurt.

They were both breathing hard. Kenny leaned his forehead on her's, them catching their breath. They then quickly leaned in for a peck on the lips.

"What happened?"

"That guy tried to take advantage of me." Zoey picked up her items before jogging after Kenny.

"Don't ever leave my side, Zoey."

"I'll never leave your side, ever."

* * *

><p>"Well, the hunt is almost over." May halted, looking up at Drew and searching his emerald eyes.<p>

"Yeah..." she said awkwardly. _Now what?_

"I really didn't accomplish anything, but then again, neither did you," Drew said.

May glared at him. "So nice of you to point that out Drew."

"In all seriousness though," Drew said, leaning down to look her straight in the eye. May leaned slightly back. _He's so close..._

And then he pulled out a beautiful, blood red, thornless rose, like he always did, and gave it to her, May taking it and holding it carefully.

May's face turned the color of the rose. _Oh, Drew._

As he began to walk away, May spoke up. "Are these for Beautifly or me?"

Drew turned and smirked. "What do you think?"

May smiled softly, glancing down into the rose.

_I think they're for me._

* * *

><p>Paul turned just in time to see a snarling girl known as Dawn coming at him. Thinking fast, he used the pillow to block himself.<p>

Well, that wasn't so great-she just snatched the pillow. Having gotten what she wanted, she turned to sprint away-

Only Paul grabbed her wrist before she could get away. She turned around with confused, sparkling sapphire eyes, her navy hair flipping around her gorgeous figure-

And the pillow came between them, thumping and squishing between their two chests. Paul lost his concentratin, his grip loosening on her and her leaving, dashing away.

_What was that?_ Paul was suddenly scared._ Don't tell me..._

_A girl got the better of me?_

* * *

><p>Paul scrambled to the finish line, trying to store as much stuff as he could take.<p>

After his odd encounter with Dawn, he had tried to take as much loot as he could. As such, he was wearing a neon green bow tie, had a disconnected pair of headphones on, and a watch wound around his wrist, among other things.

He couldn't take all of it. But with the amount he had, he was certain that if he just made it to the stupid finish line that was so darn far away, his team would win.

_Why the hell am I so obsessed with helping my team win? Paul isn't in team._

Paul pondered his sudden change of heart that was so against his character as he stumbled over the finish line, tripping over the headphones.

* * *

><p>"And the Poke-Guys win!" All of the boys joined hands and bowed on stage, all of them beaming except for Paul, who would never smile even if you paid him.<p>

They had the most items obviously-Paul had somehow gained a wealth of them, different assortments of things tumbling out from all over him. Either way, they had won the ice cream machine and pokemon food-

And something else too.

All of the girls and boys had gained something from this hunt, something that was important and special in its own way.

Ash now knew that he felt something for Misty, though he wasn't quite sure what. Misty knew that Ash was a decent boy who wouldn't fall for tacky seduction.

May found out that Drew could be quite sweet when he wanted to. Drew learned that, perhaps, May did feel something for him-her pokemon certainly did.

Zoey learned that Kenny would always be there for her-and Kenny learned that he would always have to be there for Zoey.

Leaf realized that, even though Gary would definitely leave her soon, she should enjoy whatever she has with him at the moment. And Gary finally understood that he truly loved Leaf.

And Paul and Dawn both felt that there was something different about the other-and they planned to get to the bottom of it.

The Hunt might have been a bust itself, but it had some valuable life-and love-lessons for all eight of them.

* * *

><p>It was the next afternoon after school, and Paul just couldn't make himself go to the basketball hoop. For some unexplainable reason, his feet dragged him to the front lawn, where the girls and guys he had <em>kind of sort of<em> bonded with always hung out.

He stood there a little awkwardly for a couple seconds. THis was so unlike him, and he didn't know what to do, but for some reason he wanted to do it-

He ran over to them and joined them.

"Hey Paul!"

And Paul let out a ghost of a smile.

_Maybe I do have a chance at friendship._


	5. Relationship: Reveal

Leaf breezily walked through the halls, chatting absentmindedly with Misty and Zoey as she rounded the corner toward her second period math class.

The chaos of between classes was in full swing-girls whispering, boys pushing, teachers rushing to the lounge for a quick cup of coffee-but the three girls just continued on their way, blending in with the crowd.

Nobody noticed them-they weren't particularly popular or amazing.

But _he_ was.

A tall, hot brunette walked down the same hallways toward the three girls, presumably to another class. People cleared out for _him_, people talked about _him_, people saw _him_-

But what they didn't see was how Gary lightly extended his hand and brushed his fingers against Leaf's-how they intertwined slightly in that split second-and how they released just as fast.

Nobody noticed. And neither looked back.

It was as if it had never happened.

* * *

><p>Dawn pouted. "Am I going to forever be alone?"<p>

"I bet we're going to be that big awkward group at senior prom who goes 'as friends'," Zoey remarked, giggling.

The whole group was outside after school like they always were, sitting under the large oak tree in front of the school. They were joking about how there was no hope for them in the romantic department.

"But I'm cute, aren't I? Why don't guys want me?" Dawn whined.

"Maybe if you stopped being so _annoying_, they'd consider you," Paul interjected.

May gasped. "He talked!"

"Yeah, he has a mouth, June," Drew said. May glared at him, and he smirked.

Misty sighed, shutting her iPod off. "Personally, I think this whole boyfriend thing is bogus."

Ash nodded. "Misty's right. Who cares if we're going out with someone or not?"

"I don't know, the whole school population!?" Dawn shrieked. "I need a guy, and fast."

There was an awkward silence until Gary smirked. "Well, I don't know if you noticed, but we're guys too."

Dawn blushed slightly, before hitting Gary playfully on the shoulder. "Well, I don't mean you guys...I mean, like, a boyfriend."

"What, we can't be boyfriends?"

"Gary, we all know you're playing some girl as we speak-"

"I have to go." Leaf abruptly stood up, swinging her backpack over her shoulder. "I need to help my mom clean out the garage."

Leaf lied smoothly and effectively; her friends didn't notice anything and said they would text her later. Only Gary, if you squinted, looked a little uncomfortable letting her go.

But he didn't say anything and she left, running down the sidewalk and never looking back.

* * *

><p>"Hello, Mrs. Green." Gary stepped inside Leaf's house like he did almost every day. "Where's Leaf?"<p>

Mrs. Green smiled, pointing him upstairs. "Still working on that project?"

Gary froze mid-way up the stairs, turning to face her. "Um, yeah...it's a pretty big one for our grade and everything."

The mom nodded and went back to the kitchen, and Gary sighed discreetly. He knew that if Leaf's mom knew why he was really here, he would _never_ hear the end of it.

* * *

><p>Gary quietly opened the door and saw Leaf sitting on her window seat listening to her iPod. She was so absorbed that she didn't notice him creep up behind her, and hug her from behind by the waist and tuck her into his chest.<p>

"Hey Leaf," he whispered, tickling her ear. Leaf swatted him away.

"Leaf..." he whined, and she eventually took out her green ear buds. She then pushed herself away from him and went to sit on her bed, frowning the whole time.

"What's wrong baby?" Gary asked, sitting on the bed next to her. She moved away from him. "Come on, Leaf-"

"Gary, I'm tired of this," Leaf interjected, and Gary's heart stopped. _Is she breaking up with me? She can't, I love her-_

"Gary, when are we going to go public? I'm tired of going to school every day, watching other girls flirt with you, ignoring you the whole school day...Do you know how much it hurts, Gary? When everybody was talking about dating today, I almost told them about our relationship. But then I didn't, because you would freak out.

Why Gary? Why can't we tell?" Leaf had managed to keep her tears in until then, when she finally broke down, her voice quivering. "It's been so long...it's time now."

Gary sighed, hugging her close. Leaf cried into his shirt. "Leaf, I really like you and you know that..."

Leaf froze. _Is he breaking up with me? I knew I shouldn't have done that, I should have just kept quiet-_

"I really like you but I don't think we're ready yet," Gary said.

Leaf sat up and looked at him through her wet eyes. "We're not ready?! I'm completely ready to go public. It's just you. What are you afraid of anyways? That you won't be able to commit to a girl?"

Gary looked down at his feet. He hated how Leaf could figure him out so well; but then again, that was also why he loved her.

Leaf smiled softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Gary, you've been really true to me ever since we started dating a couple months ago. I think you'll be fine, public or not. I'm willing to trust you."

A few months ago, if you asked Leaf whether she would date Gary or not, she would have said no in a heartbeat-after all, he broke girl's hearts faster than a electrode could self-destruct. He was a playboy, and that was all he would ever be.

But that was before she started dating him. Though she was quite apprehensive at first, she warmed up eventually. And when he was still with her after so long, she had to trust him. Arceus knew she couldn't say no to him anyways.

Gary smiled sadly, hugging her really tightly, squeezing her so much she couldn't breathe. "Don't leave me, Leaf." His voice broke, and she knew that, even if he wouldn't admit it later on, that he was crying. "I...I love you."

She clutched him tightly. He had never said that he had loved her before.

"I love you too."

* * *

><p>"Mother!" Leaf ran down the stairs, dragging a protesting Gary behind her.<p>

"I'd like you to meet my boyfriend." Gary cursed under his breath as Leaf's mother turned and stared at them, dropping the plate she was scrubbing into the soapy sink.

"Gary? You're dating Gary?" Mrs. Green spluttered. "But I thought you were working on a school project-"

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Green," Gary interrupted. Since Leaf had revealed everything, he would now have to step up and look like a perfect guy for their precious daughter. "I lied so I could keep seeing your daughter in you house. We've actually been dating for a while."

Mrs. Green became angry. "You've been lying to me? Leaf, you know we don't like you having guys in your room alone. Did he touch you?"

Leaf blushed a brilliant red that Gary instantly deemed as adorable. "No, mother! That's gross."

(Well, that kind of ruined Gary's plans.)

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Green. I take full responsibility for this," Gary said. There would probably be big consequences, but he was ready.

Mrs. Green sighed, smiling. "To be honest, I kind of suspected something."

Leaf grinned and hugged her mother. "Thank you."

Her mother hugged her back, and as Leaf ran to leave, she called out, "Good luck telling your father though!"

Gary froze._ Oh, no._

* * *

><p>Gary's father gazed intently at Gary from where he was sitting. Gary instantly felt uncomfortable, shifting from one foot to the next.<p>

"How long have you been dating my daughter?"

"Three months, sir."

"Have you touched her in any kind of way?"

"No sir."

"I find that hard to believe. You were holding her hand when I walked in."

"Sorry, sir, I didn't think you meant it so literally."

"Well? Have you mistreated her in any way?"

"No, and I don't plan to."

Mr. Green nodded and Gary let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. That wasn't _too_ bad.

"Do you have a penis?"

Gary looked at the man with wide eyes. "Um, yes sir, because all guys do...?"

Mr. Green addressed his daughter. "Sorry, Leaf, you can't date him."

Leaf shrieked and ran up to her dad. "Father, stop playing around!"

Leaf's dad grumbled. "I don't want anybody with a penis being around my daughter."

Mrs. Green stepped in at that point. "Honey, Leaf is responsible and I think Gary is a very nice boy." Gary flashed her a smile, and she giggled. "See?"

Leaf's dad grumbled some more, but Leaf took that as a yes and hugged him before running out with Gary.

"Come on, I've texted everybody to meet at the tree so we can tell them!"

* * *

><p>When Leaf and Gary reached their hand in hand, everybody was already there waiting for them. The sun was already setting behind the rooftops by then.<p>

"Why'd you call us Leaf?" Ash asked.

May interjected, "Never mind that. Leaf, why are you holding Gary's hand?" The girls giggled.

"We have something to tell you guys." They all quieted, staring at the two of them. "We've been dating for a while now in secret, and..and we're going public now."

There was a shocked silence. Leaf and Gary nervously smiled at them. _What are they going to do?_

"What?" Zoey forced out. "Is this a camera joke?"

Gary shook his head. "No, we're dead serious. I've been dating Leaf since early October, and we didn't tell anybody because she was embarrassed and I was afraid I couldn't commit."

"But it's been a while, and we want you to know," Leaf added. "So, what's the verdict?"

The girls slowly broke into grins, squealing. "I knew it!" Dawn said. They all went and hugged Leaf, asking her to tell them _all_ the details.

The guys got up and slapped Gary on the back. "Who knew you were such a gentleman?" Drew sarcastically remarked, but he was grinning, so Gary knew that he was just happy for him.

"Treat her well," Drew said under his breath.

"I will."

* * *

><p>"Gar-bear..." Giselle slid into the desk across from Gary, flipping one leg over the other and flashing her lacy panties to the brunette. "Will you help me with the homework?"<p>

Normally Gary would have flirted right back; that's what Giselle was waiting for. But instead, Leaf got up from behind them and tapped Gary.

"Hey Leafie." They shared a quick kiss and Leaf smirked at Giselle as she sat down.

"You were saying?" Gary asked, but Giselle had already stomped off by then.

When she was out of earshot, Gary chuckled, high-fiving Leaf. "She was pretty annoying."

But Leaf didn't hear any of it; she just grabbed his shirt collar and kissed him again with everybody in class watching. (She would have to talk with her friends loudly cheering in the back of the room though.) The bell rung, but they didn't notice.

"Mr. Oak, Miss Green! Detention for making out in class!"

Well, they would deal with that later.

* * *

><p><strong>I'm not even going to apologize for my late update time this time. I hope all the OldRival fluff made you forgive me though. Next chapter will be up pretty soon; I'm getting better about my writing times now.<strong>


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